There were any number of reasons to be excited for Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor, which launched earlier this week. For myself and many others, it was the Nemesis system--which promises unique enemies and emergent gameplay--that was the most exciting aspect of all. And while it's certainly an intriguing feature, I can't help but feel I've been missing out on it for basically being too good at the game.

Until reviews started to hit the web, I was very cautious in being optimistic about Monolith's first-ever Lord of the Rings game. For being such a major franchise, quality games based on it have been few and far between--something that's especially surprising considering its renewed popularity following the release of Peter Jackson's movies. Once I heard the almost-unanimous praise from the reviewers I trust, I was onboard. I was ready to finally play a LotR game that was a genuinely good game, not another passable one that I accepted because it happened to make use of one of my favorite franchises.

Bungie has just announced a stellar deal for Destiny buyers--if you pick up the digital version of Destiny for the Xbox 360 or Playstation 3, you get to download the next-gen digital version for Xbox One or Playstation 4 for free. That's two copies of Destiny for the price of one.

The deal applies to all Destiny content, too, so if you buy the Guardian edition of the game, or the Expansion Pass on Xbox 360 or PS3, you'll also get that same content on Xbox One or PS4 as well.

To be clear, those who take advantage of the promotion get to keep and use both versions of Destiny. The downloads will be tied to the same Xbox Live or PSN account, and as a result, you'll have to choose one ecosystem (Xbox or Playstation) for both copies of the game--you can't get it for PS3 and then get the Xbox One version, or vice versa. This is a great deal for those who still have an older console in a spare room and want to have Destiny playable on both.

If you haven’t picked up an Xbox One yet (or, if you need an extra one for the bedroom,) next week will be a great time to buy. Microsoft is running a promotion from September 7 through 13th where buying an Xbox One at participating retailers will include any free game of your choosing that costs $59.99 or less. Yes, that includes Destiny, Bungie’s new title, which drops on September 9. That’s a nice savings, since you’ll probably want at least one game to play on your new console anyway. Speaking of which, the offer applies to Xbox One bundles as well, so if you buy the Xbox One Madden NFL 15 Bundle or the Forza Motorsport 5 Bundle, each of which already comes with a free game, you get another free game of your choosing on top of that.

Forza Motorsport 5 is going free this weekend for all Xbox Live Gold subscribers. You’ll also need an Xbox One to get in on the action, which starts at 12:01am on Friday and ends on Sunday night. During that timeframe, you’ll be able to download Forza Motorsport 5 and play it to your hearts content for the weekend, including all single-player and multiplayer content. DLC add-ons don’t come as part of the deal, but still, this is basically like a free rental.

All US residents who spend time playing Forza Motorsport 5 during the free weekend are entered to win a three-day trip to the Forza Motorsport Grand Prix Road Racing Class to be held at the Bondurant School of High Performance Driving.

So, who jumping in to Forza to help pass the time until Destiny arrives next week?

For a peek behind-the-scenes of Forza Motorsport 5, check out our video after the break.

It makes sense that Microsoft would offer Kinect separately, but the extra $50 that it's taking on to the price may made it a dud out of the gate, but hey, at least now the fact that you can get an Xbox One with Kinect for $100 more appears to be a $50 savings. For what it's worth, the Kinect will be packed in with a copy of Dance Central Spotlight, which is probably the main Kinect game that people really care about in the first place.

We recently gave you a look at John Cena in WWE 2K15, and now 2K Games has released two shots of Randy Orton from the upcoming next-gen version of the wrestling game series. The first image features Orton staring down John Cena from across the ring, while the second sees Orton performing his signature pose (likely an in-game taunt.) As with the original Cena screenshot, it's obvious that a lot of work went into improving the character models for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 console editions.

Yesterday we gave you a look at the first WWE 2K15 screenshot as posted by John Cena on Twitter, and today we have news on the WWE 2K15 Hulkamania Edition. This one will be exclusive to next-gen consoles (PlayStation 4 and Xbox One,) and will feature a bunch of extra limited edition content when it goes on sale on October 28th here in North America. Aside from a copy of the WWE 2K15 game, the package also includes:

Exclusive premium packaging

Collectible art card autographed by Hulk Hogan

A Funko Hollywood Hulk Hogan vinyle figure

A piece of authentic canvas taken from the ring where Hulk Hogan returned to Monday Night Raw on March 10, 2014

This year, E3 had one of those showing that only happens once every 8-10 years. E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, is the biggest video game conference in the world, and it's where game publishers show off what they're working on. E3 2014 was unique because it was the first one after the release of two major consoles--the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4. Developers got to show for the first time full portfolios dedicated to the new hardware, and it was glorious. There was a lot to see during both the Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation media briefings, and Nintendo surprised many with game announcements of its own. I figured I'd whittle things down and share the ten games I was most excited about, in no particular order.

2K Games has released the first in-game screenshot of WWE 2K15. Initially tweeted by John Cena, the image shows WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Cena, staring down Randy Orton in the ring. As you can see, the visuals (at least here,) have been vastly improved. Not only are the character models sporting a more realistic look, but the focus blur is on-point as well. WWE 2K15 will be the first WWE title available for both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, and will also be available on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 when it's released on October 28 in North America (and October 31 internationally.) If you pre-order WWE 2K15 now, you get two playable Sting characters for free on launch day.

During the last episode of Monday Night Raw, it was revealed that the pre-order bonus for WWE 2K15 will be a double-dose of Sting. Wrestling fans in the 1980s and 1990s will remember Sting as both a blonde, spiky-haired grappler with colorful face paint, and later, the mysterious black-and-white character reminiscent of "The Crow."

When WWE 2K15 launches in North America on October 28th (and October 31st internationally,) those who pre-ordered will get both incarnations of the Sting character right off the bat, similar to what happened last year with The Ultimate Warrior in WWE 2K14. This will be the first WWE title available for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. You can order WWE 2K15 now.